The Mysterious Virtual World

This is a story about an ordinary guy who got involved into some strange virtual world. What is inside? Well it is all up to its creator. What is this virtual world like? Read this short story and find out.

Submitted:Sep 9, 2010
Reads: 193
Comments: 2
Likes: 2

Bob is just an ordinary guy. He is 35 years old, no job, not
married, living in a basement, spending hours on the Internet. He
has worked for a company that got broke recently and since then,
he is just spending hours on the web, loosing his precious time
on some social networks and chat-rooms, nothing important. Bob
starts his ordinary day, smokes a cigarette, drinks a cup of
coffee, starts a computer, reads his mail.

"Nothing interesting", Bob thinks, "I wish these guys stop
sending me these stupid emails. Do they think I am an idiot; all
those fake work at home and earn thousands of dollars emails. If
it were so easy to work at home for only one hour and earn 5000
dollars a month nobody would go to work. All of those Spam mails,
which remind me of the fact that I have just won a million
dollars because my email was selected. I would better do some
useful things, find the real ways to earn some money on the
Internet."

Suddenly a knock on a door, it is Bob's mother.

"Bob are you in there, what happened to you, you haven't been out
for two days. Please open the door." mother says.

"Mum, I am OK, just leave me do some things on the Internet, I
will be out soon." Bob says.

"Everyday is the same. You should know that too much working on a
computer is bad for your health. Alright, see you then." mother
says.

"Not again", Bob thinks. "At least she didn't start the same old
story about getting married, getting a real job. I hate listening
to that story over and over again."

Bob was an only child; his father has passed away some years ago.
He is still living with his mother, he doesn't have a lot of
friends, and girlfriend, well that thing didn't work well, they
broke up some last month. Now the only thing Bob wants to find is
some new income, maybe move to a new place, start a new life. He
has heard a lot of things about the people earning a lot of money
on the net, but he is aware of the fact that most of these
stories are fakes; it is just a trick from some fraud masters.
Bob starts to surf his favourite web sites. Nothing new, just
some old stories, some people trying to promote their business,
putting ads everywhere.

Suddenly some new ads drew his attention. Is it some kind of a
"Work from home" web site? It is one of the million sites,
promising you good earning with just a little work. This ad was
different. "Creative people wanted, new virtual world, share your
experience. We don't want your money. No fees, no credit card
needed, everyone can join. Create the virtual world with us. Join
us now."

Bob starts to think: "I know all of those sites are the same,
they just want your email, so that they can send you their
promotions and commercials. But no problem, I want to see what
they say." Bob clicks the link. He starts reading the information
on the web page. "The new experience. Virtual world as you have
never seen before. Create your world based on your experience;
the best creations will be awarded. No programming skills wanted.
Just try our program. The best virtual world creations will be
rewarded. Don't hesitate, just try our virtual guide, it can help
you on every step."

"This looks interesting." Bob thinks," I am going to try this, it
doesn't cost me anything, and it can be fun." Bob takes the
guidance of a virtual program. He uses his imagination to create
a new world. Bob is a big science fiction fan; he just wants to
create some odd place, somewhere far away from this planet. He is
just wants to taste something different. He picks some story
about a guy on a different planet sometime in a future, some kind
of a human colony with a hostile environment. This kind of story
gave him a freedom to choose his guidelines, use his imagination.
It is just a life under a protecting dome with its own biosphere.
It is a small world, you cannot leave the dome, or you will
certainly die if you try to leave the dome.

This looks easy according to Bob, I don't need to create the
outside world on this planet, it is just a world limited to this
artificial biosphere. Bob starts to feel tired, he wants to rest,
take a snack or something. He logs out of the virtual program.
"Well done", the virtual program announces, "You have just been
awarded 50 dollars for your work, keep up the good work, come
latter to continue to build this story." As he sees this
notification, Bob is amazed and very happy. It never happened
before. All these clicks and worthless surveys and emails didn't
made him only few cents, almost nothing. But this is something
amazing, Bob can actually see the money was already deposited on
his account, they can send him a check any time, no catch. Looks
to good to be true. Why would anybody want to give him this money
for such a little work?

Bob grabs some snacks and continues to work on this virtual
program. Starts to create the places and characters in this
virtual world. He sees that his world is becoming popular, many
people check in to see it. Now it is still the beginning. I need
to work for a couple days more, use my efforts. Bob continues to
work like this for the next three days, with a little rest. He
goes deeper and deeper into the story and his main character. He
named him Tom. Tom is some kind of a scientist, keeping the
biosphere life sustaining program working properly. Looks like a
boring life. But is it really like that.

There is a knock on a door. "Bob, you have got some check
received, what is it, is it the paycheck from your last salary.
Have they decided to pay you after a long time." mother says.
"Mind your own business." Bob says," Give me that check." Bob
opens the door; he takes the check and goes back into his room.
"You should pay some electricity bills, go to the supermarket buy
some supplies, now you have the money." mother says. "OK, just
leave me alone for now." Bob says. Bob looks at the check. The
check looks real, not a fake, and what about the money. "I can't
believe it, 1500 dollars!!! What is this, just for working for 4
days? This can't be, I must be dreaming", Bob is amazed. Bob
continues to work, more and more. He doesn't want to sleep,
working from day to day on this story. The rules are simple, the
more people like your virtual world, the more money you can earn.
And what about the Bob's world? It is becoming more and more
popular by web site visitors.

The story of Tom the scientist on a hostile planet is becoming
more and more interesting. New stories inside his story appear.
He got involved into a secret plan from galactic government. They
want to abandon this colony, is seems it doesn't generate enough
money. They want to raze the place because there is no profit
just loss. "Wait, it can not be." Bob states in a fear." I didn't
write this story." Who is the guy that wants to destroy my work?"
It looks like the virtual program has some kind of an inside
program that creates suspense and thrill to every virtual world.
And the fact is that the virtual world cannot exist for a long
time. Bob starts to deal with the situation; he creates new
characters, new building inside the biosphere. This is his
precious creation; he can never allow anybody to destroy it.

Now the new problem arises, how can he make this place
profitable, keep it alive. Now let's go back to Tom, Bob's
virtual hero. Tom can never give up; he is finding some new
solutions, reducing the costs that machines are making every day.
The efforts look useless, but then Tom gets an idea. He wants to
explore the outside world, the hostile planet. He wants to find a
solution to this problem. Maybe outside there are some
interesting things, which can make this colony profitable. Tom
designs a special suit, a suit that can withstand the radiation
and the high temperature. He goes on a mission. Nobody knows
where is he going. He is brave, but he should be reasonable just
stay inside the dome. Tom left the dome through a secret exit. He
goes outside, but what is outside, it is not the world that Bob
created, nothing but fiery lava and exploding volcanoes. Tom has
no chance and he dies.

"No, this is the disaster, my main character has died, there is
no way I can save the colony now." Bob cries. What about the
Bob's world? It didn't last long. Without Tom to control the life
sustaining equipment, the only thing they can do is to evacuate
the colony. No more Bob's virtual world. No more earnings for
Bob. How sad, maybe now he can go outside and find some real job.
What happened to this strange web site? Well, it seems they have
relocated it, Bob cannot find the web address any more. It is
time to go out in a real world, Bob. Face the facts and don't
just sit in your room by your computer. There is some career out
there; at least the people say so. But not for Bob, he is a
dreamer. He likes the virtual world; the real world looks boring
according to him.